


Saturday Detention

by DrummerFromDownUnder



Category: Nowhere Boys (TV)
Genre: Jake and Felix used to be friends, M/M, The Breakfast Club Au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-26
Updated: 2019-03-26
Packaged: 2019-12-18 07:48:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18245504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrummerFromDownUnder/pseuds/DrummerFromDownUnder
Summary: The Bremin Four basically being The Breakfast Club.





	Saturday Detention

**Author's Note:**

> Jake - Andy (Jock)  
> Sam - Claire (Popular)  
> Andy - Brian (Nerd)  
> Felix - Allison mixed with Bender (Weirdo whose constantly in trouble)
> 
> There are some thing in this that are different to the movie:  
> Mr. Bates isn't a horrible teacher like Mr. Vernon  
> There's no sexual abuse or teasing about sexual things  
> They don't smoke weed, but they do sneak out for something else  
> There are no homophobic slurs  
> And there is no dance scene because I have no idea how to write that (Sorry)

On Saturday May 5th, 2013, four teenage boys from Bremin High School had detention. School footy captain; Jake Riles, golden boy; Sam Conte, straight A student; Andy Lau and Bremin’s resident freak; Felix Ferne.

 

“I can’t be _lieve_ I couldn’t get out of this. It should be illegal to make me come here on a Saturday.” Sam said as his mum parked outside Bremin High.

“Well, you should’ve thought of that be _fore_ skipping school to go skateboarding. Which you could have been doing _today_.”

Sam sighed, grabbing his backpack in front of his seat. “I get it, mum. I messed up. But Pete _and_ Vince have both done way worse things.”

Mrs. Conte wasn’t impressed. “Yes, they have, but that doesn’t excuse when you’ve done something wrong, _Samuel_.”

Sam winced. “Full name instance, huh?” Mrs. Conte reached over and grabbed the car door handle.

“Yes, Samuel. Full. Name. Instance.” Closing the car door, Mrs. Conte drove off as her son walked into the school’s main building.

“Now. Is this the first time or last time you do this?” Mrs. Lau asked.

“Last.” Andy muttered.

“Okay, now get in there and use the time to your advantage”

Andy glanced back. “Mum, we’re not supposed to study, we just have to sit there and do nothing.”

Mrs. Lau huffed. “It’s a school, you’d think they would want their students to learn at any possible time. Well, you’re just going to have to figure out a way to study.”

Andy’s sister smirked from the back seat of the car. There was no way she was going to miss her brother getting in trouble. “Yeah. Try not to get killed by all the other delinquents!”

Andy glared at her as he shut the car door. “Shut it Viv.”

“Jakey… You really need to get a hold of this bullying issue. You _know_ that it’s wrong, and you’ve been doing so _well_ recently.”

Jake stared down at his feet. Of _course_ , he knew bullying was wrong, but sometimes his anger would overwhelm him and with his ‘friends’ saying stuff about him being a ‘mama’s boy’, he _had_ to do something to get them off his back, even if that meant him dealing with upsetting his mum.

“I’m disappointed in you, Jake. You need to clean your act up.” Sarah sighed.

“I know mum.” Jake said getting out of the car. “I love you.”

Sarah smiled sadly at her son. “Love you too, Jakey.”

As she pulled out of the car park, Sarah spotted a tall boy dressed in all black, heading towards the school and rolled down her window. “Hi Felix.”

Felix took out his earbuds. “Oh, hi Sarah.”

Sarah hadn’t seen the boy around as often as she used to, but it was quite understandable why. “How are your parents?”

Felix shrugged. “Fine, I guess…”

“And… How’s Oscar?”

Felix’s eyes lit up at the sound of his brother’s name. “He’s doing quite well actually, he’s in year 8 now.”

Sarah smiled. “Really? Wow, how time flies. Anyway, I should let you go. Say hi to your parents for me.” Sarah went to pull out but stopped. “By the way, Jake also has detention today. Maybe you guys could… catch up?”

Felix looked down at the ground and back up at her. “No offence, Sarah, but Jake and I aren’t really _friends_ anymore.”

Sarah smiled sadly. “Okay, well… It was nice seeing you again, Felix.” Felix waved as she pulled out of the car park and finally drove off.

Felix walked into the year 11 study where detention was held. Immediately, he spotted Sam Conte and Jake Riles being all buddy-buddy, sitting next to each other. Felix headed towards the back while glaring at Jake. Stopping in front of his regular seat, Felix knocked twice on the desk. Andy looked up from where he was sitting.

“Hi… Andy, right?” Andy nodded. “Okay Andy, you’re new to detention, I get that, I _really_ do, but… You need to get that you’re in _my_ seat.”

Andy stood up. “Sorry…”

Felix sat down, put his legs up on the desk and leaned back. “It’s not a problem, as long as it doesn’t happen again. But I’m sure that you’re making this a ‘once in a lifetime’ experience.”

Andy nodded as he moved two desks ahead. “Yeah, that’s the plan.”

Felix smirked. “That’s what they all say."

Mr. Bates walked into the study room with a roll book. “Well, well. Here we are.”

 _‘Bates. Why of all people did it have to be Bates?’_ Jake thought.

“I want to congratulate you all for being on time.”

Felix smirked. “You know I wouldn’t miss it for the world, Mr. Bates.”

Sam rolled his eyes and put his hand up, unenthusiastically. “Excuse me, sir. I think there’s been a mistake. I know its detention, but I don’t think I belong in here.”

Mr. Bates looked down at the roll book. “Conte Sam. Looks like you do.” He glanced at his watch. “It is now 9:06. You have exactly 6 hours and 54 minutes to think about why you’re in here. You may not talk, you will not move from your seats.” Mr. Bates walked to the back of the room and stood in front of Felix’s desk. “And you will not _sleep_.” He said, tapping Felix’s Doc Martins with the roll book before handing it to Felix. “You know the drill, Felix.”

Felix rolled his eyes. “Sign next to your name and pass it on.” He muttered.

“Alright boys, we’re going to try something a little different today. We are going to write an essay of no less than a thousand words describing to me who you think you are.”

Felix frowned. “Is this a test?”

Mr. Bates leaned back on the table at the front of the room. “No. And when I say ‘essay’, I mean ‘essay’. I do not mean a single word repeated a thousand times. Is that clear, Felix?”

Felix smirked. “Crystal.”

Mr. Bates nodded. “Good. Maybe you’ll learn a little something about yourself. You might even decide on whether or not you’d care to return.”

Andy stood up. “Uh, you know, I can answer that right now, sir. That’d be no… No from me ‘cause”

Mr. Bates sighed and cut him off. “Sit down, Andy. I’m sure that this will be your last time in detention.”

Andy smiled and sat down. “Thank you, sir.”

Mr. Bates stood up and headed for the door. “My office is right across the hall. Any monkey business is ill-advised. Any questions?” The boys shook their heads and muttered as they began to write. “Good. I’ll leave you to it.”

Within the first five minutes of being left alone, the boys started to get bored.

Andy muttered to himself, asking who he thought he was and Felix, getting antsy, started to make noises as he played air guitar.

 _‘7 hours of this? You gotta be shitting me!’_ Sam thought to himself. Normally he was the one who was disruptive but at that moment, Sam just wanted to get his essay done and get out of there. “Seriously dude, could you shut up?” He asked, turning around.

“Make me.” Felix smirked at the shorter boy.

“Knock it off, Felix.” Jake said.

“What are you going to do?” Felix asked, mockingly.

“I’ll pound your face in.”

Felix smirked and leaned forwards, arms resting on his desk. “You know, Riles… You’re pretty sexy when you’re angry.”

Jake glared at the goth and turned back around.

“He’s just doing it to get a rise out of you. Just ignore him, dude.” Sam said, trying to get Jake to cool off.

Felix put his head in his hand and turned his attention back towards Sam. “Sweets…” Sam looked at him. “You couldn’t ignore me if you tried.” Sam glared back and turned back around to his notebook. Felix looked between the two boys and decided to stir a little more trouble. “So… So, are you guys like… boyfriends?” Sam and Jake tried to focus on their essays. “Steady Dates? _Lovers?_ ” Felix continued. “C’mon Sporto, level with me.” Felix chucked a scrunched-up wad of paper at Jake’s head.

“Fuck off!” Sam yelled.

Felix stood up and walked over to the front desk, leaning on it as he laughed. “You guys are no fun!”

Jake glared at him. “And what do you know about fun, Felix. Nobody cares enough to hang around you, if you disappeared, no one at this school would even notice.”

Felix bit his lip, chewing on this right lip ring. He didn’t want to admit it but, that fucking hurt. Especially coming from his ex-best friend. _‘Guess he’s speaking from experience.’_ Felix thought as he crossed his arms. “Well then, I’ll just have to join the footy team.”

Jake and Sam chuckled. _‘Felix? Footy? Now that’ll be the day.’_

“Maybe even art club, too.” Felix added.

“No, you wouldn’t because they wouldn’t take you, nobody would. You don’t fit in and you’d just make fun of everyone in clubs.” Sam replied.

“You ever thought that might be because everyone in clubs happen to be arseholes?” Felix asked.

“No. You don’t know any of us.”

Felix paused, pretending to think about it. “Well, I don’t know any lepers, but you don’t see me joining any of their fuckin’ clubs.”

“Hey, watch the mouth.” Jake replied.

Without the three talking, Felix noticed that Andy was also saying something. “Excuse me for a sec’. Oi!”

Andy stopped.

“What are you blabbering on about?”

Andy launched back into what he was saying before. “I was just saying, I’m in maths club and physics club.”

Felix stood up a bit straighter. “Oh… Hey, Airhead.”

Sam glared, not appreciating the new nickname.

“Do you belong in the maths club?”

Sam shook his head. “No… that’s an academic club.”

“So?”

Sam looked at the goth like he had two head. “So, it’s not the same as a regular club.” 

Felix smirked. “Ah, but to dorks like him, it is.” Felix turned his attention back to Andy. “Okay, what do you do in your clubs, Andy?”

Andy shrugged. “Well, in physics club, we talk about physic and in maths club, we talk about… maths.”

Felix nodded along. “So, it’s kinda social. Demented and sad, but social.”

Andy just took the insult and continued. “Yeah, I guess you could say it’s social. At the end of the year, we have this banquet that we go to”

Felix cut him off. “You load up, ya party.”

Andy shook his head. “No, we dress up, but we don’t get high.”

Sam looked at Felix. “Only burners like you get high.”

Felix rolled his eyes. _‘Here we go again with the stoner shit.’_ He thought.

Jake was getting fed up. “Look, you guys keep it up and Bates is gonna come right in here. I got a game next Saturday and I’m not gonna miss it on account of you two boneheads.”

Felix tilted his head and smiled at the jock. “Oh, and wouldn’t that be a bite, huh? Missing a whole footy match!”

Jake crossed his arms and leaned back on his chair. “You wouldn’t know anything about it, Freak! You’ve never competed in your whole life!”

Felix put a hand to his chest, clutching his t-shirt. “Oh, I know. I feel empty inside because of it. I have such a _deep_ admiration for guys who run around chasing other guys for balls.”

Jake shrugged the insult off. “Ah, you’d never make it. You don’t have any goals.”

Felix looked at him, a false look of hurt on his face. “Oh, but I do!”

Jake scoffed. “Yeah?” He asked.

Felix nodded. “I wanna be just… like… you. I figure all I need is a brain transplant and some short shorts.”

Andy raised an eyebrow at Jake. “You wear short shorts?”

Jake looked back at him, offended. “No. I _don’t_ wear short shorts. I wear the required uniform.”

Andy smirked. “Short shorts.”

Jake paused. “Shut _up!_ ”

Felix looked towards the door and saw Mr. Bates leave his office. “Oh, this is gonna be fun.” He muttered, walking towards the door of the study room.

The other boys’ eyes followed him. “Uh… Felix? Doesn’t this count as monkey business?” Andy asked.

Felix turned around, still walking to the door and pointed at Andy. “Young man, have you finished your paper?” Once he got to the door, he looked to his left, then his right and once he saw that the coast was clear, Felix started to fuck around with the door’s top screw.

“C’mon, Felix. Don’t screw around.” Jake said.

Sam watched the goth boy’s work on the door. “What are you gonna do?” He asked.

“Drop dead, I hope.” Jake muttered.

Felix succeeded in getting the screw and ran back to his seat as the door slammed shut. Jake, Sam and Andy, not wanting to get in anymore trouble, started telling him off and to fix the door. “Just shut up, okay?” Felix ended the conversation just before Mr. Bates walked in.

“Who shut the door?” The boys all shrugged. “Boys, I’m going to ask again. Who _shut_ the door?” Mr. Bates looked at Felix, sitting at the back. “Felix?”

Felix shrugged. “It just shut by itself, sir.”

Mr. Bates wasn’t impressed. “Likely story, what did you do to the door?”

Felix looked at him. “A screw must’ve fallen out, sir.”

“A screw?”

“Yes, sir.”

Mr. Bates was getting annoyed. “Give me the screw.”

Felix didn’t move. “I don’t have it.” He opened his hands to show them, completely empty.

“Give me the screw, Felix.”

Felix shrugged again. “I _don’t_ have it. Screws fall out all the time, the world’s an imperfect place.” 

Mr. Bates sighed. “Don’t make me give you another detention, Felix. You already have another four.”

Felix looked down. “Honestly, sir. I _don’t_ have it.”

Mr. Bates looked around the room. “Okay, Jake, help me get the door to stay open.”

Felix sat up straight. “Hey, how come Jake gets to get up? If he gets up, we’ll all get up, it’ll be anarchy.”

Both Jake and Mr. Bates ignored him. They looked around for a door stopper but couldn’t find one. Mr. Bates sighed. “Thank you for trying, Jacob. Hopefully this is your only detention. Wouldn’t want to have to bring it up next time I’m having dinner with your mum.”

Jake grimaced. “Don’t worry about it, sir. This is a one-time thing.”

Mr. Bates nodded. “Good. I’ll be back to check in with you boys later.” Jake went back to his seat as Mr. Bates left.

Another hour passed as the boys mucked around. Sam doodled on pages and pages of his notebook, Jake created a paper footy game, Andy continued to work on his essay, struggling to write and Felix was lighting the bottom of his shoe on fire with his lighter and hitting the flame out, over and over again.

After a while, Felix got up, went to the bookcase at the back of the room, grabbed a few books that stood out to him and brought them to the desk at the front. Sitting down on the desk, he started to rip pages out of one.

“Nothing to do when you’re locked in a vacancy.”

Jake shook his head. “Ah, speak for yourself.”

Felix stopped and looked at the jock. “Do you think I’d speak for you?” He scoffed. “I don’t even know your language.”

Jake turned to Sam, resting his arms on the desk in front of him.

“Hey, you going to Trent Long’s party tonight?”

Sam paused, then shook his head. “No… I’m pretty sure that I’m grounded for at least a week, dude.”

Jake continued anyway. “C’mon! Just sneak out. I’m sure your brothers will keep your parents occupied.”

Sam looked down at his notebook and started to draw again. “Nah, I don’t wanna piss mum off more than I already have.”

Jake went to talk again but Felix interrupted. “Sporto?”

Jake looked at the goth. “What?”

Felix crossed his legs and rested his arms against them. “You get along with your parents?” Felix already knew the answer, but Sam was obviously done with the conversation and Jake wasn’t letting up. So, Felix directed the attention back to himself.

“Well, if I say yes, I’m an idiot, right?” Jake asked, glaring.

Felix put his hands behind him, holding his weight on the desk. “You’re an idiot anyway, but if you say you get along with parents, well, you’re a liar too.” He smirked.

Jake stood up and stopped in front of the goth boy.

“Can you hear this?” Felix asked as he held out his hand towards Jake. “Want me to turn it up?” He smiled as his flipped his hand upwards.

 _‘Really?’_ Jake thought. _‘He still makes up stupid ways to raise his middle finger? C’mon, fuckin’ grow up!’_

Felix laughed and got off the table. He slipped passed Jake and walked over to Andy’s desk. “Andy, buddy! How’s the essay going?”

Andy was a little bit nervous. It wasn’t like he was scared of Felix, it was just that the older boy was quite intimidating up close. “Uh… It’s not, really.”

Felix nodded. “Yeah, neither is mine. It’s such a bullshit idea. ‘Write about who you think you are’, what a pile of crap!”

Andy shrugged. “I actually don’t think it’s _that_ bad. It’s just kind of difficult to write a thousand words about myself.”

Felix nodded again. “Yeah, I mean… I can sum up myself and you guys easily in way less words.”

Jake crossed his arms. “Okay, prove it.”

Felix smirked and pointed to himself. “Six feet under the social ladder and begging to be done with you morons.” Then he pointed to Andy. “Straight A student, never done a thing wrong in his life. Which is why I’m curious to know how exactly you managed to get in here.” Then to Jake. “Loves his mum, but constantly disappoints her.” Jake glared. “And ‘Mr. Popularity’ himself. Constantly following his stupid friends so that he never feels alone.” Sam glared, turned around and focused back on his drawing.

"Fuck off, Felix.” Felix walked over to Jake and stood up straight, making himself slightly taller.

“You gonna make me?” He asked.

“Yeah.” Jake replied.

Felix crossed his arms. “You and how many of your friends?”

Jake stood his ground. “Just me. Just you and me, two hits.” Jake pushed Felix to make him back up a little. “Me hitting you. You hitting the floor. Anytime you’re ready.”

Sam threw a scrunched-up ball of paper, hitting the side of Jake’s face, gaining the two taller boys’ attention. “Dudes, Bates!” He said, gesturing to the door with his head. Jake and Felix looked at each other before scrambling back to their original seats.

“Okay boys, lunch.”

Felix raised his hand. “Will water be available to us?”

Jake nodded. “We’re extremely thirsty, sir.”

Sam decided to jump in as well. “I have a low tolerance for dehydration.”

Jake nodded again, managing to keep a straight face. “I’ve seen him dehydrate, sir. It’s pretty gross.”

Mr. Bates thought about it. “Okay, Jake, Andy, there’s a fridge in the front office, next to the sick room. Felix, Sam… don’t kill each other.” Mr. Bates left the room with Jake and Andy in tow.

“So…” Felix began. Sam payed him no attention. “What are you drawing?”

Sam paused for a second, confused on why Felix would even care. “Uh… Just some design I was thinking of putting on my next board.”

Felix got up and walked over. Standing behind Sam, Felix looked down at the outline of a skateboard with swirls covering the top half. “Huh, cool. My little brother loves to draw.”

Sam turned and looked up Felix. “You have a little brother?”

Felix smiled, his eyes lighting up. “Yeah, Oscar. He creates all of these comics and he’s even designed the first tattoo I’m gonna get.” Felix reached into the back pocket of his jeans and pulled out a folded piece of paper. He unfolded it and handed it to Sam. It was a circle with lines through it and the zodiac symbols surrounding it in a slightly larger circle. “He has no idea what it is or where it came from, but he had a dream about it, woke up and drew it the next day.”

Sam smiled, it was weird seeing Felix look so… happy. It wasn’t a bad thing, just different. _‘He must care about his brother a lot if it makes him act like this’_

Jake and Andy walked into the Front Office and over to the fridge. “So, what’s your poison?” Jake asked over his shoulder as he opened the fridge.

“Um, water’s fine, thanks.” Andy replied.

“Okay… water for you.” Jake said, handing Andy a bottle. “And three cokes for the rest of us.” They began to walk back to the study room.

“Why are you in here?” Andy asked.

Jake thought about it for a second, not wanting to come clean. “Um, my parents and my footy coach are afraid I’ll blow my ride. Gotta keep my head on my shoulders and my ego small, ya know?”

Andy nodded. “Uh huh. So, why are you really here?”

Jake looked at the shorter boy, who smiled at him. “Not convincing, huh?”

Andy shook his head. “No, not really." Jake smiled and looked away, punching Andy’s shoulder.

The two arrived back at the study room to see Felix walking back to his seat, putting something in his back pocket and Sam smiling to himself, drawing. Andy sat down at his desk, pulling his backpack up and grabbing his lunch out while Jake put his coke down on his desk, passed one to Sam and threw the other can towards Felix. Felix caught the can and placed it down on his desk before slightly opening it, making sure that it wouldn’t explode on him. He then got up and walked over to Andy’s desk, sitting down and moving a plastic bag in the middle of the desk towards himself.

“It’s just some food from my family’s restaurant, you can have some if you like.” Felix looked at him. Normally when he did this kind of thing, Felix was told off. No one had ever offered him food before.

“Thanks Andy, you got any lemon chicken?”

Andy looked at him. “That’s not even real Chinese.” Felix slumped a bit. “Here you go.” Andy placed a plastic container in front of Felix.

“Cool.”

Sam closed his notebook and moved it to the side of his desk. He then proceeded to grab a sandwich out of his backpack. Then another. And a packet of chips. And a packet of JJ’s. And finally, a lunch box containing two packets of Oreo’s, a mars bar and another sandwich. He went to bite into the first sandwich when he noticed everyone staring at him. “…What?”

“Okay, Andy, what do you like to do? What kind of friends do you have?” Felix asked randomly. He was bored and sick of sitting in silence.

Andy picked at his food. “Um, not much, really. As I said, I’m in the physics club and the maths club but other than that, I don’t really hang out with anyone but my sister.”

Felix heard a snicker. He looked up to meet Jake’s eyes. “What?”

Jake smirked. “He hangs out in academics clubs and with his sister. It’s lame.” Andy looked down at his lunch.

“Really?” Felix asked. “You know what I think is lame?” He stood up. “Pushing kids around and making them feel like shit just to feel like you’re better than everyone.”

Jake glared, standing up. “You insult people too!”

Felix wasn’t backing down. “Yeah, but that’s because if I didn’t, I’d have way more people attacking me than just you and your friends.”

Jake rolled his eyes. “You’re overexaggerating.”

Felix’s eyes widened. “Really? _Am I?_ ‘Look at this fuckhead, can’t believe he’s still alive.’” Felix started to circle around Jake slowly. “’Yeah, doesn’t he know that he’s not wanted?’ ‘He’s probably too fucked up to realize.’” Felix stopped in front of Jake, narrowing his eyes and tilting his head. “’Yeah,’” He mimicked Jake’s voice. “Freak probably pushed his brother out of that tree.’”

Andy and Sam’s heads snapped up, their eyes focusing on Jake. “You said that?” Sam asked. Jake looked down at his feet, he hated himself for a lot of things, but that was one of the worst things he’d ever said in his life.

Felix was too pissed off to continue to deal with Jake. “See, I don’t think I have to sit with you fuckin’ _dildos_ anymore.” Felix headed for the door.

“Felix…” He didn’t respond, only opened the door and checked if the coast was clear. “Felix! C’mon, you’re gonna get in trouble.” Sam warned. Felix walked out the door and down the hall. The other three looked at each other.

“Should we follow him?” Andy asked.

“Probably.” Jake replied, heading for the door with Andy and Sam in tow. Checking left and right, the boys headed down the corridor and found Felix at his locker, stuffing something into an inside pocket of his jacket.

“What’s that?” Andy asked. Felix didn’t reply. “Was that drugs? Do you have drugs, Felix?”

Felix rolled his eyes and was about to snap back when he spotted Mr. Bates outside. “ _Shit._ You guys gotta go. Now.” They other boys followed Felix’s gaze.

“What about you?” Sam asked.

“I’ll distract him.” Jake went to speak but Felix cut him off. “Look, I already have another four detentions, one more isn’t going to kill me. But Bates will kill all of us if you three don’t go right now.” Jake grabbed Andy’s sleeve and pulled him back towards the study. Sam was still standing with Felix. “Now, Sam. Go.” With that Felix turned the other direction and ran off singing. Mr. Bates heard him and came back inside as Sam snuck back to the Study.

 _“I wanna be an airborne ranger, I wanna live a life of danger. Before the day I die, there’s five things I wanna ride. Bicycle, tricycle, automobile, a virgin’s mother and a ferris wheel.”_ Felix sang, shouting as loud as he could to get Mr. Bates’ attention. He ran into the gym where Mr. Bates found him shooting hoops.

“Felix, what are you doing in here?” Felix dribbled the basketball in a circle. “Okay, that’s it, Felix. Out.”

Felix stopped, basketball in his hands. “Don’t you want to hear my excuse?” He asked.

“Out.” Mr. Bates replied.

“I’m thinking of trying out for a scholarship.” Felix said, sarcastically.

Mr. Bates pointed towards the door. Felix dropped the basketball and picked up his jacket, checking the inside pocket as he walked back to the study, Mr. Bates following him.

“Boys. _This_ is an example of what not to do, now Felix will be going to the back-room to _think_ about _why_ he shouldn’t sneak out of detention. _Especially_ , since he already has another four lined up.” Mr. Bates said as he walked to the back of the room, opening up the back-room door and gesturing Felix to go in. “You’re a good kid, Felix. I know you are, you just need to clean your act up.”

Felix nodded. “Thanks, Mr. Bates.”

It was only two minutes after Mr. Bates left when Felix walked out of the back-room.

“Felix, you’re gonna get into more trouble.” Andy said.

Felix shrugged. “I’ll be back in there before he comes back to dismiss us. Don’t be such a worry wart.” Felix sat down and reached into the inside pocket of his jacket. The other boys stood up, walking over and stopping in front of Felix’s desk. Felix pulled out a bunch of pages folded in half and stapled together.

“We broke the rules for _that?_ ” Jake asked.

Felix smiled down at the item in his hands. “It’s a comic book my brother made, I just wanted to go grab it. You guys didn’t _have_ to follow me.”

Sam smiled. “Hey, can I look at it?” He asked.

Felix nodded. “As long as you don’t rip it.”

Sam held his hand up. “Scouts honor.”

Felix chucked, looking over to his left, where he saw Andy looking in his bag.

“Hey!” He snatched his bag back.

“Why do you have so much stuff in there?” Andy asked.

Jake looked between the two. “What kind of stuff?” He grabbed Felix’s bag, peering inside.

“ _HEY!_ Have you guys ever heard of private property?!?” Felix stood up, glaring.

“Felix, why do you have clothes in here? And a fair amount of money?” Jake asked.

“Just in case.” Felix muttered.

“Just in case of what?” Sam asked.

“Are you planning on running away?” Andy asked.

“What are you going to do? Live on the streets?” Jake added.

“I don’t know, _okay?!?_ It’s hard, living in that house, seeing what my brother has to go through, because of me. And my parents…” Felix sat back down, putting his head in his arms, wiping his eyes with his sleeve.

“What do they do to you?” Sam asked.

Felix looked up, tears in his eyes. “They ignore me.”

Sam felt his heart break. “Yeah?”

Felix nodded, looking down. “Yeah.”

Jake, Sam and Andy grabbed a chair each, placing them down in front of Felix’s desk and sitting down. “After Oscar’s accident, things haven’t been the same at home.”

Sam leaned over, resting his arms on the desk. “What happened to him?”

Andy sat up straighter. “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

Felix nodded, wiping his face with his sleeve. “It’s okay. A couple of years ago, we went outside and there was this huge tree. I wanted to see how high I could go, so I climbed up and convinced Oscar to do the same. I found this perfect spot. It was so high, you could basically see the entirety of Bremin from up there. Oscar was a few branches below me when it happened.”

Felix looked away, tears streaming down his face. “He lost his footing and slipped. I managed to grab his hand and he held on for a few seconds before he fell. One minute he was right behind me, the next thing I know, he was lying on the ground, unable to move.” He blinked, trying to get the image of his brother on the ground, out of his head.

“I don’t remember much after it. I know I got down and called an ambulance but after that, it all kinda blurs together. But what I do remember is my mother crying and my dad not being able to meet my eyes. Things have never been the same since.”

Jake looked at the ground, the guilt he was feeling made his stomach churn. “I’m sorry.” He mumbled. Sam and Andy turned their attention to the jock as Felix looked up. “That… I wasn’t there for you. Or Oscar.”

Felix shook his head. “’s not your fault, we weren’t even friends anymore.”

Jake sighed. “Yeah, but… that’s my fault too. I shouldn’t have ditched you and Ellen, but with everything that was happening with my dad and my mum, I didn’t want school to be an issue either. Which is a fuckin’ stupid reason to do what I did.”

Sam thought about it for a second. “Oh yeah, I forgot you guys used to be friends.”

Jake and Felix both ignored the other boy. “I spoke to your mum earlier. She seemed happy, a _lot_ happier than the last time I saw her.”

Jake nodded. “She is. And I’m happy she is, don’t get me wrong. She’s the most important person in my entire life. It’s just… her new boyfriend is kinda lame. And I don’t like him, at _all_.”

Felix chuckled. “You make it sound like she’s dating Bates.”

Jake looked down. The other boys shared a glance and looked back at him.

“Your mum’s dating Bates?!?”

“Mr. Bates?”

“No wonder you stopped snarking at him. That was one thing we still had in common, making fun of good old ‘MasturBates’” Felix smirked.

Jake chucked. “Yeah, but after mum started seeing him, I had to be nice. But every time I see him, I just wanna punch him.”

“What about your dad?” Andy asked.

Jake scoffed. “What about him? He’s a total loser. All he does is sit on the couch, eating baked beans and watch footy.”

“What about your arsehole friends?” Felix asked, looking down at his desk.

Jake didn’t know how to respond. “Uh… um, I dunno, really, I mean they’re the reason I’m in here.”

Felix wasn’t buying it. “Really?”

“Okay, no, they aren’t. I was having a shit day, mum invited Bates over for dinner and Trent and Dylan were there when Bates came up to me and mentioned it. So, after a while, my anger got the best of me and I went to swing at Trent. He ducked and I hit Mike Parker in the face and broke his nose.”

Andy looked at Jake. “That was you?”

“Yeah, you know him?” Jake asked.

Andy nodded. “Yeah, I know him.”

“Wait…” Sam turned to Jake. “If you tried to punch Trent in the face, why were you so pushy about going to his party tonight?”

“Bates is coming over tonight and I don’t want to go to my dad’s.”

“You can hang out with me, if you like.”

Jake looked over at Felix, who had his hand on the back of his neck. “You know, like old times?”

Jake smiled. “Yeah, like old times.”

“Okay Golden Boy, why are you here?” Felix asked Sam.

“Mia and I skipped and went to the skate park. I got caught.” He replied.

Jake facepalmed. “Mate, really? Skipping school to hang out with your girlfriend?”

Before Sam could reply, Felix jumped in. “She’s not his girlfriend.”

Sam turned back to Felix. “How’d you know that?”

“You know her girlfriend?”

Sam nodded.

“That’s my best friend, Ellen.”

Jake looked between the two. “Wait… Mia likes girls?”

“Yeah dude, she doesn’t make a big deal out of it.”

“And… _Ellen_ likes girls?”

“Yeah, that’s one of the many things you missed after you ditched us.”

Jake decided to move the conversation along. “Andy, why are you here?”

“Yeah, what could you have done to score a place in detention?” Felix asked, turning to the shorter boy.

“I was late for school every day this week.”

The other three boys paused before busting out laughing.

“Of course, you’d be in here for _that!_ ” Sam laughed.

“But, why were you late?” Jake asked.

“I’ve been working on this theory about wormholes and I keep staying up way too late researching about it.” Andy replied. 

“So, you’ve slept in every day this week?” Felix asked.

Andy nodded.

“Dude! Take a nap.” Sam said.

“Mr. Bates said that we weren’t allowed to sleep. Anyway, we’re only here for another five minutes.” Andy replied.

The boys looked between each other.

“Did anyone actually finish their essay?” Jake asked.

“No.”

“Nuh-uh.”

“That would be a no.” Felix said, getting up from his seat. “I’ve gotta get back in the back-room before Bates gets back.” He turned to Jake. “Hey, Riles, maybe you could convince him to make the due date next week, since he’s like… your step-dad.” He laughed.

Jake grimaced. “Yeah, yeah, very funny.”

The boys grabbed their things and moved back to their original seats.

“Hey, Felix?” Sam asked.

Felix turned around. “Yeah?”

“You never told us why you were here.”

Felix thought about it for a second. “Honestly, I can’t remember, I got this one about four weeks ago.”

“You should really stop getting in trouble, dude.”

“Why?”

“So, we can hang out sometime.”

Felix blushed, looking over at Sam who was fumbling with his hands. “Yeah, okay. Sounds like fun.”

The boys smiled at each other until they heard a snap.

“Oi, lovebirds! Bates, _remember?_ ” Jake reminded them.

Felix went back into the back-room as Sam went back to his seat.

“Okay, boys.” Mr. Bates said opening the door. “You’re free to go.”

Sam, Jake and Andy retrieved their things and left the classroom as Mr. Bates went to open the back-room. “Felix, I will see you next Saturday.”

Felix smirked. “Indeed, you will, sir.” He saluted as he passed Mr. Bates, walking towards the door where Jake was standing. “Oh, and sir?” Felix stopped. “You never asked for our essays.”

“Did anyone finish theirs?” Mr. Bates asked.

“No sir, don’t think so.”

Mr. Bates sighed. “Just finish it sometime this week and hand it to me by Friday. And tell the others.”

“Got it Mr. Bates.” Felix said, finally retreating the room.

“Jacob, would you like a ride home?” Mr. Bates asked.

“Uh, no thanks Mr. Bates. Felix and I are actually gonna hang out tonight.” Jake replied.

“Oh, okay. As long as you text your mum.”

“Already done, sir, have a good weekend.” Jake said over his shoulder, catching up to Felix.

Felix and Jake exited the school and started their way to Felix’s house when they were stopped.

“Felix!” Sam ran up to the two. “I forgot to give you your brother’s comic back.” Sam held the comic out to the taller boy.

“Oh, thanks Sam.” Felix said, grabbing the comic.

A car horn beeped. “That’s my brother, I’ve got to go.” Sam paused for a second before standing up on his tippy toes and kissing Felix’s cheek. “Bye, dudes. Seeya on Monday.” Sam waved as he ran back to the car.

Felix was stunned. “Yeah… Bye…” He replied, quietly.

Jake and Felix started to walk off. Jake grabbed the comic. “So, Oscar still draws?”

Felix nodded, not entirely there. “Yeah…”

Jake noticed and decided to have a little fun. “So… Sam, huh?” He asked, flipping through the comic, stopping on a page with a small piece of paper stuck inside.

Felix snapped out of his daze. “Huh? What? NO. No, that probably meant nothing.”

Jake smirked, pulling out the piece of paper and showing it to Felix. “Yeah, sure. Looks like nothing to me.”

Felix grabbed the piece of paper from the slightly shorter boy and scanned it with his eyes. “He gave me his number?”

Jake grinned. “So, you gonna be Mr. and Mr. Ferne or Mr. and Mr. Conte?” He asked.

Felix’s head snapped up. “Oh yeah, like you’re so innocent. I saw how you were looking at Andy.”

Jake scoffed. “Was not.”

“Were too.”

“Was not.”

“Were too.”

Jake decided to derail the conversation. “Race you to your place.” He said running off.

“What? No fair! You actually do P.E!”


End file.
